Tiger wants the Russians to roar

Tiger Aviation Services (TAS) started its ground-handling services with just four staff in a small office at Cairo International Airport nearly three decades ago.

Tiger Aviation Services (TAS) is, today, looking forward to moving into a huge office block to accommodate its 350 staff.
“The company started in 1989 with just a few qualified traffic officers and handled its first flight at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport. Since then, it has been a fascinating journey for everyone to be part of the travel practice,” said chairman and CEO, Hussam El-Talawy.
The company offers services from ground-handling, fuel, global flight support, crew and logistics – including having its own crew lounge, VIP services, catering, cargo, and TAS Travel – a sister company to TAS.
“From the moment the aircraft approaches its parking until the chocks are off, TAS will supervise the process every step of the way,” said El-Talawy.
The company currently has 26% of the market in Egypt and deals with 1.5 million passengers a year. However, passenger numbers have dropped since Russia’s Metrojet flight 9268 fell from the sky over Sinai in 2015.
“In 2010 we had 2.5 millions passengers,” said El-Talawy. “These were mainly Russians as we handled 90% of the Russian work, making up 30% of tourists coming here. Now not as many come after the incident over Sinai.
“However, our government and the airports have taken a big leap to clear all the concerns tourists have, including security. For instance, Hurghada International Airport has very strict security now, using new fingerprint machines at security.”
El-Talawy added that tourists have only recently started to come back to Egypt.
“The Germans and the British have already started to come back,” he said. “We just need to see the Russians.”
El-Talawy said he is looking forward to seeing passenger numbers increase and the company further expanding.
“Besides a new office block, we have started our own kitchen company here in Cairo providing catering for both business and commercial flights,” said El-Talawy. “We offer cuisine literally fit for kings and queens as we have already served many royal parties.”
The company is also looking into starting its own tour operation.
“As aviation and tourism returns to normal here, we want to further increase our services,” said El-Talawy. “After all, our business is aviation and aviation is tourism.”

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